Kale Continues to Outpace Other Leafy Greens for the Holidays

WARMINSTER, PA (Dec. 4, 2015) — Food pundits generally agree that leafy green kale, in one form or another, will find its way onto an increasing number of dinner tables during the Holidays.  Kale sales are enjoying record levels, and nowhere is this more true than in home gardening.

Kale, Blend

Kale is fast becoming a leading choice among home gardeners, as media and health experts constantly cite the nutritional benefits of this leafy green vegetable.  But this wasn’t always the case, according to George Ball, chairman of W. Atlee Burpee & Co., the nation’s leading purveyor of fruits and vegetables for home gardeners.

Five years ago, Burpee offered just four different varieties of kale, and sales were, at best, lackluster; far behind spinach and other more popular leafy greens.  “You might say kale sales were in the dirt,” Mr. Ball states.  But things began to change just two years ago, and, last year, kale was among the leading dark leafy green vegetable sold to home gardeners, says the Burpee chief executive.

For the upcoming home gardening season, Burpee has greatly expanded the varieties of kale being offered.  “We expect kale sales to equal spinach either this coming year or by 2017,” he forecasts, “and a number of the new Burpee varieties have been specially bred for both heat tolerance and better flavor.”

For 2016, Burpee is introducing ‘Kale Storm’: a kale salad mix that comes in easy-sowing seed pellets with three different varieties: purple, green and blue.  ‘Kale Blend’, a Burpee exclusive packed with 45 different flavonoids, is pretty enough to merit planting in a patio container—putting a healthy snack just a snip away, says Mr. Ball.  Also available for spring 2016 in the kale variety will be ‘Scarlet’; ‘Ursa’ and ‘Black Magic’, an improvement on the heirloom, ‘Tuscan Kale’.  Burpee will offer 16 kale varieties for the 2016 home gardening season, to experience the full array, visit the Burpee website.

Kale Storm